London
by feragorn
Summary: Socrates's humans move into a house next to Mistoffelees's home. Misto introduces Socrates to the Jellicles, but when Socrates finds out that he's a conjurer, how will he control his powers? Sorry for the bad summary, just please read it!
1. Chapter 1

I do not own CATS. As much as I would like to, I don't.

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London. That was where Socrates' humans were moving to. Well, Socrates was too, but then again he didn't have a choice in the matter. The brown and black tabby just followed them wherever the tom human's job took him. Luckily, this was their first move, and it was to a bigger city where the human could have a better job. They pulled up into a large, white house in Victoria Grove. Socrates saw a few dogs, and a cat or two, but it was a mostly quiet area. Socrates' queen human scooped him up and placed him on the yard. He looked around. In Socrates' opinion, he would have a nice big territory where he could lie around, hunt birds and mice, and be his normal, playful self.

From the fence in the adjacent house's yard, he saw a white face pop up. A second later, the rest of the cat jumped onto the fence. It was a small, black tuxedo tom. Socrates decided he'd go over and introduce himself, seeing that the tom was about his age. "Hello there, I'm Socrates. My humans just moved here, who're you?" The tom jumped down from the fence. "I'm Mister Mistoffelees, the Original Conjuring Cat, but most people call me Misto." Socrates smiled. "Well Misto, I know I'm in London, but what's it like here?" Misto gestured for Socrates to follow him, and said cheerfully, "Well follow me, and you'll find out."

"Wow, London is so… big." said Socrates in awe of the many cars, people, shops, and restaurants. Mistoffelees looked around, and then crossed the street. Socrates quickly caught up with him. "So, where are we going next?" He asked. Misto pointed with his tail to an old, rusted gate. It looked like the gate opened into a junkyard. "There. It's the Jellicle junkyard." "The what?" Socrates asked. "Never mind, you'll see soon enough." Misto led Socrates into a huge junkyard. Suddenly, three cats confronted them. One was a spotted grey and white cat, another who was a huge Maine Coon, and the third a silver tabby, who seemed to be the leader. "Well Misto, who's this?" asked the big tabby. Mistoffelees pointed at each cat with his tail as he said their names. "Munkustrap, The Rum Tum Tugger, and Alonzo, this is Socrates. He and his humans moved into the house next to mine. Oh, and by the way Tugger, you should probably find Jerrie and Teazer." Tugger felt the back of his mane, growled, and dashed off to find them.

Munkustrap seemed pleased, and said, "Well Socrates, would you like to join the Jellicles?" Socrates asked for a tour of the junkyard first, and then he would decide. "Well, this is the main clearing, it's where we gather to talk, hang out, and hunt." Munkustrap led Socrates to the dens, passing some cats who started having a hushed conversation. "Each cat has a den in the junkyard. Some are made out of old pipes, ovens, and Tugger's is in that car over there." He gestured to an old, rusted out car with a license plate that read TSE 1. "Over by that tire is where Old Deuteronomy, our leader, will address us for a meeting or other special circumstance." Munkustrap stopped in front of the tire, and said, "Well, what do you think? Will you join?" Socrates thought for a moment, and said, "I'll join, but why is everybody but you and Misto jumpy around me?" Munkustrap leaned down and said in a flat voice. "They think you may be with Macavity. As such, we screen all newcomers." He straightened up, and called, "Coricopat, Tantomile, we have a newcomer!"

Two almost identical brown and black splotched cats came out of the shadows. Munkustrap nodded to them. "This is Coricopat, and his sister, Tantomile." The two twins nodded at Socrates and in unison said, "We will mentally examine you to determine if you are actually with Macavity or not." Socrates felt a strange probing sensation in his mind, which withdrew after a few minutes. Coricopat and Tantomile looked at Munkustrap and said again in unison, "He knows nothing of Macavity, but we determined that he is a conjurer." Munkustrap's eyes widened. Socrates was suddenly very nervous. "Uh, wh-what's a conjurer?" Misto lookd up, and said, "A conjurer is a cat with magical powers. Corico, Tanto, and I all are conjurers. They're teaching me how to develop my powers, and after you join, I guess they'll teach you!" Misto looked excited about that, and Socrates was still confused.

Suddenly, a loud smash was heard on the other side of the Junkyard. Munkustrap cursed under his breath. "Alonzo, Corico, Tant, come with me." They walked off in the direction of the noise. "What was that?" asked Socrates. Misto sighed and said, "It's Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer again. They are always causing mischief around here. They braided Tugger's mane earlier today and he didn't notice." Socrates felt a tap on his shoulder and turned around to see two orange, black, and white calicos. "'Ey, who's this, Misto?" The tom asked. Misto laughed and said, "This is Socrates he just moved into the house next to mine, and shouldn't you be running from Tugger?" The tom looked serious for a second, but then burst out in a huge grin. "No, that's why we made that little diversion, just so we could meet Socrates 'ere without any interruption." He looked at Socrates. "I'm Mungojerrie, and this is my twin sister Rumpelteazer, but most call us Jerrie and Teazer." Teazer giggled and said, "We're the pranksters of the tribe. Our pranks aren't harmful, but they sure get Tugger worked up. Say, Misto said you moved in next to him. We live around the corner from him." Socrates smiled and politely said, "Well, it was nice meeting you, but you should get going, I hear Munkus and Tugger coming." The twins looked at each other and ran off, laughing. Socrates turned to Misto. "Do they get caught?" He asked. Misto chuckled. "No, not often. C'mon, it's getting late. We should go home. Come back tomorrow and we'll see what Old Deuteronomy thinks about you joining."


	2. Chapter 2

I do not own CATS. As much as I would like to, I don't.

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"Jellicles!" Old Deuteronomy's voice boomed out. "We now accept a new member into the tribe." He motioned for Socrates to come forward. "Socrates has expressed his interest in joining us, and Munkustrap and I have seen fit to allow him to join." Deuteronomy looked at Socrates. "I trust Munkustrap has reviewed the laws of our tribe with you?"s Socrates nodded. "Well, then I guess we officially have a new member of the Jellicles!"

After Socrates's acceptance ceremony, he took the time to walk around the junkyard and meet everybody. By the end of the day Socrates had a good opinion of everyone. The elder cats were like aunts, uncle or parents to the younger cats, the toms Munkus's age were serious about making sure the tribe ran smoothly, most of the queens including the kittens were obsessed with Tugger. He flirted around them but seemed most interested in Bombalurina, who gladly returned the attention. The tom kittens were not all that interested in the queen kittens, but they were content to play-fight the whole day and practice hunting. One or two of the queen kittens were interested in himself and Misto, probably because of the fact that they were conjurers, although Socrates had no previous indication of his powers. Socrates sighed and thought to himself, _"What am I going to do when I discover my powers? How long will it be before I learn to control them?"_

Munkustrap saw Socrates sigh and went over to him. "Hey, Socrates!" He called. "If you're staying here, you need a den. There are still some open ones, but you need to know where the best ones are. Follow me." Munkustrap walked off in the direction of the TSE 1. "This is Tugger's den. There are some unused one next to it, but you won't want to take them. Tugger has a habit of doing things that nobody wants to be near on a regular basis." After abandoning a few dens by a large junk pile because they were somewhat unstable, Socrates decided on an old storage container near Misto's pipe and Jerrie and Teazer's oven. Munkus smiled. "Well, now that you have a den, you're free to fill it with any bedding you like. I have to go check on Alonzo, so I'll see you tomorrow!" Munkus left, and Socrates started to look around for some old blankets or mattresses for his den. By nightfall, he had an old mattress, a blanket, and a wind up clock. He settled down in his new den and went to sleep.

When he woke up, it was 9:00 AM and his first thought was to go to the kitchen and get some milk from his humans, but he realized that he was still in the Junkyard. He walked out of his den and started home. When he got there, he went in the cat-flap and mewed for his humans. The queen human look extremely relieved that he was back and picked him up and gave him a great big hug. Socrates almost couldn't breathe. "Put me down!" He mewed. She put him down after what seemed like an eternity, and opened one of his tuna cat food cans. He ate it happily, and gave his human a look that said, "I will come and go as I please, but I will never get lost." She seemed to understand and said, "Well Socrates, you can go wherever you want, but be back at some time. That way we won't be worried sick when you leave." Socrates nodded and walked out the door.

When he got back to the junkyard, almost everybody was awake except for Tugger, who had been with Bombi the night before. Alonzo was trying, without success to hit on Cassandra. Misto was hanging back, trying to smother his laughter. "Hey Misto." Socrates said. Misto snickered, then tried to answer. "Mmph- Hey Socrates." Socrates looked confused. "Why is Alonzo so funny?" Misto stifled another laugh. "He uses the stupidest pickup lines." Alonzo tried another line. "Hey Cassandra, you better use an ashtray, cause you're SMOKIN'!" Misto couldn't take it anymore and burst out laughing. Alonzo heard and shot Misto a dirty look. Cassandra looked disgusted and walked away with Victoria and Exotica. Meanwhile, Tugger just walked out of his den, and called Alonzo toward him.

Socrates watched Cassandra leave, and then turned back to Misto, who was composing himself. "Misto, how did you discover you were magic?" Misto took another second to stop laughing. "Well, about a month ago, I accidentally shot a lightning bolt out of my paw. It hit a piece of junk and exploded. I got so freaked out that I wouldn't raise my paws for two days. I think developing your powers is related to puberty or something like that." Socrates looked concerned. "Did you hit anyone?" he asked. "No, but it took me a week to learn to control it. Here, watch." Misto raised his paw, and a bolt of lighting shot out with a loud CRACK, and exploded. Socrates's eyes widened. "Whoa, I wonder if I can do that." He raised his paw, concentrated…and nothing happened. Misto shrugged. "Give it a week." He suggested. Socrates was about to lower his paw when a lightning bolt shot out with a loud CRACK as Misto's had, but shot toward Tugger, who was tutoring Alonzo on "The Fine Art of Getting Queens". The bolt zipped over his head and carved a furrow in his mane. Tugger shot bolt-upright (hehe) and looked shocked (hehe again). He felt his mane, and then started to chase Socrates and Misto over the whole Junkyard. They managed to get to Socrates's den, and locked the door. Then they went out the hidden back entrance and crept around to the back of the junkyard where Jerrie and Teazer were watching the spectacle.

Jerrie and Teazer were rolling on the ground laughing hysterically. "Misto, nice job! We never thought you would do that to 'im!" Misto shrugged. "It wasn't me, it was Socrates." Teazer looked surprised. "You-you're a conjurer?" she asked. Socrates smiled. "Yeah, and that wasn't on purpose. That was an accident." Jerrie clapped him on the back. "Any cat who can do that to Tugger is worthy of joining our weekly Tugger raids. Socrates politely turned them down, saying that he would just interfere with their masterfully executed raids. Jerrie looked disappointed. "Suit yourself, Soc." As the twins left, Jemima, Electra, and an obviously unhappy Etcetera came up to Misto and Socrates.

Etcetera sat down and shot Socrates a death stare. Socrates cringed. "Hey kittens. Why is Etcy giving me that look?" Jemima and Electra giggled. "It's because you shocked Tugger's mane. He's really mad." Etcetera glared at Socrates again. "You hurt my Tuggy!" Socrates started laughing. "It's not funny!" Etcetera growled. "Sorry, but it was a complete accident. That was the first time I used magic, and I wasn't trying to. If I was trying to shock Tugger, I would have hit him. I wasn't, so please don't be mad at me." Etcetera thought about it, and said, "I'll forgive you if you fix Tugger's mane." Socrates looked at Misto. "Don't worry, I'll help." Misto said. They left to find Tugger.

Tugger was in his den, sulking. Misto poked his head into the den. "Tugger?" he asked. "Socrates wants to apologize now that you're not trying to kill him." Socrates stepped in. "Tugger, I'm sorry, it was an accident. That was the first time I used magic, and I wasn't expecting it. I can fix your mane with Misto's help, so will you let us?" Tugger gingerly touched the back of his mane where it had been scorched. "Yeah. Do it quick, though. I think I hear my fanclub." Misto laughed. "Yeah, Etcy was pissed at us and wouldn't forgive us unless we fixed your mane." Tugger laughed. "Yeah, that sounds like her." Misto pointed to where Socrates should stand. "Okay, you stand there. Gather your power in your paws, and think of Tugger's mane in all it's unscorched glory." They concentrated for a bit, then Misto said, "Now, release the power." More lightning shot out and enveloped Tugger's head. When it dissipated, his mane was back to it's normal, unscorched self. Tugger felt it again, and looked relieved. "Thanks. Last time something happened, it took a week for it to grow back. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a fanclub to report to." He left the den, and soon screams of joy came from the kittens who were happy that Tugger's mane was back to normal.


End file.
